From all indicators, it appears that working from home is set to become a semi-permanent or hybrid version of how we do business. Many small to mid-size companies have at least some of their team working remotely (some are fully remote). For many companies, it’s actually proven to be workable and cost-effective. A recent survey showed nearly half of all companies plan to allow their employees to work full-time from home for the foreseeable future. Almost 80 percent of CEOs believe remote collaborations are here to stay.
That being said, remote teams come with their own set of challenges, not the least of how to collaborate online, track hours and progress, etc. Fortunately, technology has provided us with many useful platforms and apps that seamlessly help us meet these challenges. Let’s look at some popular tech tools that can make it easier to maintain open communication and collaborations when working remotely.
Teamwork
This popular project management software offers excellent functionality for setting up projects, assigning tasks to team members, tracking their progress, and tracking their work hours. It also affords easy messaging within the app so team members can ask and answer questions, collaborates on problem-solving, etc.
Slack
Slack is one of the top communication platforms of choice for businesses. In one interface, team members can communicate via instant messaging, share files, follow specific project threads via hashtags, and much more. Slack also enables voice and video calls, and it even allows your team to collaborate with other remote teams when you’re cooperating on projects involving other businesses.
Zoom
You’d be hard-pressed to find someone who hasn’t either used or heard of Zoom over the past year. The reason? It’s easy to use, easy to manage, and easy to get others to join. Zoom has become the video conferencing platform of choice for businesses of all sizes, and many companies have begun having daily team meetings using it. For remote teams, it’s the next best thing to being in the room together.
Time Doctor
One of the best tools for measuring the productivity of remote teams, Time Doctor does more than just log work hours—it tells you what your team members are working on, how much time they’re spending on certain projects, and even what websites they are visiting while logged in. The software even includes tools to help employees manage their time better, such as sending friendly reminders when they visit non-productive websites and automatically logging them out for breaks when they become inactive online.
For many businesses and employees, working remotely will never be quite the same as face-to-face collaboration. However, with tech tools like these and others, you can help your remote teams be just as productive as they were in the office—and often even more so. The team at Los Angeles Marketing and Advertising Agency Wicked Bionic uses these and other tools to make their work more efficient.